You got out of bed to write down another of your wretched aphorisms? Thereby compromising your rest? Is not sleep's oblivion superior to the pseudo-reality reachable by words? And will you make of that an aphorism? Well, now that you're up you may as well relieve the pressure on your bladder too.
Category: Aphorisms and Observations
Carpe Noctem
Would that we could seize and record the fugitive thoughts that patrol the strange no-man's-land between sleeping and waking. We have learned to seize the day, and the children of the day, but night's offspring elude us.
Why Forgive?
Because we ourselves need to be forgiven. "But I have never done anything that requires forgiveness." Really? Then please forgive me for considering you either a liar, or an amnesiac, or self-deceived, or morally obtuse.
Fool, Philosopher, Sage
The fool is never satisfied with what he has, but is quite satisfied with what he is. The philosopher is never satisfied with what he is, but is satisfied with what he has. The sage is satisfied with both. Unfortunately, there are no sages, few philosophers, and a world full of fools.
On Repetition
Anyone can see the need for repetition in physical training. One push-up is as good as none. But one hundred per day, every day, will do your upper body a world of good. People are less likely to appreciate the necessity of repetition in mental and spiritual training. Thus liberals often foolishly rail against 'rote memorization.'
So complaints about the repetitiveness of my more protreptic aphorisms and observations are out of place. The latter are spiritual exercises for the writer's and the reader's sake. Multiple 'reps' are as necessary for mental and spiritual development as they are for physical development.
The Leap of Despair
Despair requires as much of a leap as faith does. In either case we jump beyond what we can strictly know.
Relations with Extroverts
Relations with extroverts should be left on the superficial level. Never seek a deep relation with a person who is surface all the way down.
Ataraxia
One way to retain peace of mind is by refraining from giving others a piece of one's mind.
Of Books and Men
A book is a man at his best. Who knows what Plato was like in the flesh? Maybe he suffered from halitosis. Perhaps he was unbearably domineering. But in his books I have him at my beck and call, for instruction, uplift, or just to keep the pre-Socratics from improperly fraternizing with Aristotle.
Each book on my shelves is a window, a window opening out upon a world. From Aristotle to Zubiri, window after window, world upon world . . .
Don’t Worry, Be Happy
The dreaded event will either occur or it will not. If it occurs, then the worrier suffers twice, once from the event, and once from the worry. If it does not occur, then the person suffers from neither. Therefore, worry is irrational.
The Art of the Aphorism in an Aphorism
A good aphorism is the tip of an iceberg of thought. One gets the point but is spared the proof.
Salvation: Of the Soul or From the Soul?
While in many religions the aim is to save one's soul, in Buddhism the aim is to disembarrass oneself of the conceit that one has one.
How To Look At Things
Look at them as if for the first time — and the last.
Debate Neither Sophists Nor Dogmatists
One cannot have a profitable discussion with someone who does not care about the truth, nor with someone who believes himself to be in such secure possession of it as to render further investigation unnecessary .
On Forming Societies at Faint Provocation
Paul Brunton, Notebooks II, 154, #56:
I am not enamoured overmuch of this modern habit, which forms a society at faint provocation. A man's own problem stares him alone in the face, and it is not to be solved by any association of men. Every new society we join is a fresh temptation to waste time.
Well said. Would Thoreau have joined the Thoreau Society? Merton the Merton Society? Would Groucho Marx have joined a club that would have him as a member, let alone make him the cynosure of its interest?
Seriously, there is something dubious about societies. Were I to read a paper the least bit critical of Thomas Merton at the Merton Society, I would receive a hostile response no matter how good the paper was. I would be taken as attacking their man, someone with whom they identify. In a one-on-one exchange, it is not uncommon for an interlocutor to 'get his back up' if one criticizes, however judiciously, something or someone in whom the interlocutor has invested time and energy. But when there is a bunch of these people reinforcing each other, look out! They close ranks and their critical acumen goes to zero.
Merton, Heidegger, Ayn Rand, and so many others who inspire a following need to have their works discussed critically, and that means: not by followers and not by dismissers, but by the independent. But what happens for the most part is that their works get chewed over lovingly in uncritical enclaves while being ignored or dismissed by those outside the charmed circles. Case in point: the Rand cult.